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00:00Welcome to Mojo Plays and today we're taking a look at 10 Massive Changes Made in Horizon
00:17Zero Dawn Remastered.
00:25Before we begin, we publish new videos all week long, so be sure to subscribe to Mojo
00:29Plays and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
00:34Child Aloy
00:41If there is one change in this remaster that signifies how different Horizon Zero Dawn
00:46looks and feels, it's the younger versions of Aloy.
00:49In general, kids have always looked off in video games and in the case of Aloy, some
00:54angles and lighting made her look like a demon spawn or something.
01:04The remaster has greatly remedied her appearance in a way that makes her look more like an
01:09actual kid.
01:10Many of the other kids seen in the intro got similar upgrades in visuals and animation.
01:22Game Settings
01:32Before we get deep in the mud with the visual alterations, we do want to point out one key
01:36change you may want to look into when you hit the main menu.
01:39Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered features a cornucopia of new settings that affect not just visuals,
01:44but audio and gameplay as well.
01:46Those with tinnitus and other hearing issues can toggle off any sound effects that might
01:51cause discomfort or ringing.
01:53You also have a number of controller settings that were available back when Horizon Forbidden
01:57West launched in 2022.
01:59That said, make sure you check out the settings menu before you go diving into Aloy's first
02:04adventure.
02:05Much more expansive than the original game was.
02:22Another noticeable improvement in the remaster is the hair.
02:25While many video games saw improvements in hair visuals and animation in the 2010s, Horizon
02:30Zero Dawn still had that stringy look that was reminiscent of computer animation seen
02:36in the late 90s and early 2000s.
02:38And no, it was not reminiscent in a good way.
02:47Thankfully the remaster has shown substantial improvements in this aspect of animation,
02:52as characters now have more lush and realistic hair color, tones, and shading.
02:58Child Aloy has some problems with her hair reflecting light in certain areas, but once
03:02you get moving as adult Aloy, the improvements are on full display.
03:11Lighting
03:17The original Horizon Zero Dawn did boast an impressive display in lighting and shadow
03:21quality considering the time it came out.
03:24While many PS4 games were already utilizing some great lighting, very few titles ever
03:28came close to matching the quality PC games were seeing.
03:32Well, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is very much blurring the line between console and
03:36PC graphics now.
03:38From the rays of sunlight in the valley to the sharp contrast of machines scanning the
03:42area, the remaster has made Horizon Zero Dawn more breathtaking than ever before.
03:47Plus, the blue light coming from watchers, grazers, and sawtooths is much more noticeable,
03:52making it easier than ever to spot them from a distance.
04:04Character Models
04:16We know we could have mashed Child Aloy into this category, but that whole situation was
04:20unique enough to be its own thing.
04:23As for the cast as a whole, Horizon Zero Dawn did suffer from the uncanny valley with how
04:28characters would move while talking.
04:30The lack of proper lip-syncing didn't help either.
04:33Unfortunately, lip-syncing is still a bit of a problem in the remaster, but it is less
04:37noticeable if you aren't looking directly at everybody's mouths.
04:41Animation, on the other hand, has been vastly expanded upon as character movement now lines
04:46up with each actor's performance.
04:48It is much better than the stilted motions of the 2017 original.
05:00Karst
05:07He may be another character we could have mashed into the previous entry, but Karst
05:12was another unique example that we just have to talk about.
05:15Just look at the original rendition of Karst we got back in 2017.
05:19This dude looked creepy, and we promise we aren't trying to pick on him.
05:24However, that weird smile he had going on made him look like Mr. Libido from Yakuza
05:30Zero.
05:31Thank all mother that the remaster fixes Karst.
05:34Now it feels like Aloy can talk to him like normal adults, and he sounds a bit snarkier
05:39than he did before.
05:40A nice, welcoming change.
05:46Voice acting
05:58Speaking of characters sounding different, playing between the original and the remaster
06:02might reveal an interesting detail if you have not been paying attention to the marketing.
06:07One of the biggest draws of Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is in how much of the voice acting
06:11has been redone.
06:12Sony, Guerrilla Games, and Nixis have talked extensively about how more than 10 hours of
06:18voiceover and motion capture have been completely redone.
06:22Simple side-by-side comparisons of various scenes have shown how much better these performances
06:26are now thanks to these efforts.
06:29Perhaps some of us were too quick to protest against this remaster after all.
06:40NPCs
06:43NPCs
06:50This is one subtle improvement we didn't notice until we began reviewing our own footage.
06:55The first village you'll ever step foot in the game is Mother's Cradle.
06:59In the original game, Mother's Cradle seems to be a bit too barren to even be called a
07:04village, let alone a town, doesn't it?
07:06For the remaster, Guerrilla Games and Nixis went into various settlements and added more
07:11NPCs, which in some cases help emphasize some of Aloy's sarcastic comments when she's
07:17being looked at differently.
07:18It's definitely more effective here compared to entering a city where six, maybe seven
07:23people are walking around.
07:25All Mother, hear our prayer!
07:29What is the child but a mother's hope that takes flight?
07:33All Mother's World
07:37All Mother's World
07:44While we're on the subject of environments looking different, the world as a whole is
07:48looking a lot more vibrant in the remaster.
07:51Again, the 2017 original looked great for its time.
07:55The remaster, on the other hand, ups the ante to a whole other level.
07:59The world is filled with much more diverse and lively foliage than it ever has been.
08:04Guerrilla Games and Nixis even explained in a PlayStation blog post how they went about
08:08improving the foliage and textures across the different biomes.
08:12Many assets were brought over from Horizon Forbidden West, while others had to be completely
08:16redone from scratch.
08:18It required a lot of importing files and moving things from older programs into newer versions,
08:23and if you want to know more about the specifics, we highly recommend you go read that post
08:27after we finish our final entry here.
08:35Technical Performance
08:47If you played Horizon Zero Dawn back when it initially launched, you'll remember how
08:51the game ran at the time.
08:5330 frames per second, with minimal chug in some areas, even a PS4 Pro wouldn't get
08:58the game running at a higher framerate.
08:59It wasn't unplayable, but in today's world where more players value performance
09:04over resolution, it might turn some gamers off.
09:14Thankfully, you can play the original on PlayStation 5 at a smooth 60 frames if you want.
09:20However, Horizon Zero Dawn skates by the original because of one reason, the rendering.
09:26Pop-ins and rendering is far less noticeable in the remaster, thanks to the improvements
09:30made with the Decima engine and the capabilities of the PlayStation 5 console.
09:35In all honesty, this might be the best remaster Sony has published.
09:50Are you playing Horizon Zero Dawn remastered?
09:53I actually have been for the last couple weeks, it's pretty much taken over my life.
09:57But tell us your thoughts about the game in the comments below, and don't forget to subscribe
10:01to Mojo Plays for more great videos every day.